Midnight Shivers
by Freckles Forever
Summary: On their guest for the Philosopher's Stone, Ed and Al stop at an inn in a small town. Alphonse can't sleep, though.


MIDNIGHT JITTERS

Edward and Alphonse Elric were still on their quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. It was believed to be nothing more than a myth, but the brothers knew it was something more. To them, it was their only chance to start over and get their original bodies back. So far, however, any clues they did find about the Stone always lead them to a dead end. Still, they knew it was out there and they were not going to stop looking until they found it.

They had stopped in a small town and found an inn to stay for the night. Tomorrow morning they will start on their journey again.

Edward was asleep in his bed, curled up under the warm blanket. He dreamed he had found the Philosopher's Stone and was strangely frolicking in a meadow. He rubbed the Stone to his face as if it was a bag of gold coins.

"Brother? Are you awake?" he heard his younger brother call out to him. Edward woke up to see Alphonse shaking him awake gently. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Now I am," he mumbled groggily.

"Did you hear that sound just now?" Alphonse asked. He sounded concerned. Edward was quiet as he tried to listen for any odd sounds. He frowned a moment later.

"I don't hear anything. You must be imagining things, Al," Edward said as he waved it off as nonsense. He turned over and tried to go back to sleep, but Alphonse continued to shake him.

"You can't go back to sleep, Ed! What if the thing that made that sound comes back?"

"Al, come on. I'm still tired. It's been a long day," Edward growled as he tried pulling the sheets back over his face. Alphonse pulled the sheets off his brother.

"Al, what's the matter with you?! Give that back, it's cold!" Edward yelled as he jumped off the bed and tried to get the blanket back.

"No, Brother!" Alphonse said as he dodged out of the way each time Edward came close to grabbing the blanket. "You can't go back to sleep!"

Edward gave up trying to take the blanket by force and sighed in annoyance. He crossed his arms.

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Well...I...It's because...," Alphonse stammered. Edward noticed how his brother's armor began to rattle and wouldn't continue his explanation.

"Don't tell me your afraid of the dark, Al."

"It's not the dark. I just...I'm sure I heard a sound...And this town is kinda creepy at night, don't you think?"

Edward stared at his brother for a moment before bursting out in laughter. He held his ribs from laughing so hard.

"Gee, Al! You're afraid of this village?!"

"It's not funny, Ed! I know I heard something! What if it's the Hummonculi?!" Alphonse said, anger in his voice. Edward tried to gain control over himself, but he still thought it was funny.

Suddenly, the sound that Alphonse heard had returned! This time Edward heard it. Alphonse screamed and ran into the closet, locking himself in. Edward knew what it was, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be explained. It was no monster, that was for sure.

"Come on, Al. Open up. There's nothing to be scared about," he knocked as he tried to coax his little brother out from the closet.

"No way, Ed! I don't want to get eaten by any monster!" Alphonse shivered from behind the closet door. Edward tried to open the door, but it was no use. He clapped his palms together and pressed them against the door. There was a flash of light as a hole was made in the door. Edward reached into the closet and grabbed his brother's arm.

"Come out, Al. I know what made that sound, and it isn't a monster." He dragged his brother out the closet despite Alphone's whines of protest.

Edward lead Al to the window and pointed to the branch from a tree that was knocking against the window. It was making the sound Alphonse was so scared about.

"See, Al, it's nothing but a tree branch."

"Oh...I guess you're right," Alphonse nodded hesitantly. Edward stretched and yawned.

"Now that that's been taken care off, I'm going back to sleep." He picked up the blanket that had fallen on the floor during the brothers' struggle and climbed into his bed. He noticed that Alphonse had not moved from the window.

"Night, Al," Edward called to him. Alphonse snapped out of his trance and turned to Edward.

"Uh, sure...Goodnight, Brother..."

Edward watched as his brother sat down in his corner and frowned. He sighed and got out of bed, tacking the blanket with him. He sat down beside Alphonse and wrapped himself up in the blanket.

"Aren't you going to go back to sleep?" Alphonse asked him. Edward shook his head.

"No, Al. I'm staying with you until the nightmares go away."

There was something about that response that made Alphonse remember something about the past. When Alphonse and Ed were still little, Alphonse often had bad dreams. Edward always told him that he would never leave him.

"No monsters are going to hurt you while I'm around, Al," he would say. "I'm staying with you until the nightmares go away."

Alphonse felt so happy and he wanted to hug his brother. But instead he reached out his hand and took Ed's.

"Thanks, Brother..."

Edward was silent for a moment before smiling.

"No problem, Al," he said before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
